Managing your inner critic

A strong and noisy inner critic and resulting feelings of being an imposter affect almost every researcher and yet, as individuals, we often think that we must be the only one, or that others don’t suffer very much from self-doubt. If only we were prepared to talk more about it, we would realise that it is a normal part of being a researcher. In a way, it is good news if we have a noisy inner critic: it means that we are stretching ourselves and there is a potential opportunity for us to develop or do something worthwhile for our careers.

Understanding, normalising and reframing the voice of our inner critic can help us to move on, and not be held back or paralysed by feelings of self-doubt. Here we share some insights and tips to help you to manage your inner critic. It may also help you to notice your team’s inner critics and support them to reframe and ignore their own self-doubts.

“Everyone feels they are an imposter. There is no such thing as a stupid question, and there is no harm in asking people, so try and get over any nervousness. It boils down to building trust with your academic mentor. It’s very important to ask the difficult questions, even if you feel embarrassed.”
- Prof Neil Alford, Associate Provost (Academic Planning)

In our set of three videos on the inner critic and imposter syndrome we explore how to recognise our unique inner critic and where the feelings of self-doubt and imposter come from. The videos are best viewed in order: